Do you have a favorite line or two from a movie? I bet you do. I’m going to share two of my favorites, then I’ld love for you to share yours. One more thing: my favorites always make me laugh. Do yours?

One of the problems with sharing these, of course, is that 1) everyone won’t enjoy my favorites and 2) quoting lines from a movie the other person hasn’t seen usually goes to prove that “you had to be there”. Nonetheless, I’m going to do that.

From The Blues Brothers: Everyone loves and quotes on line, “We’re on a mission from God”, but my favorite is when Jake and Elwood are sitting in their car and Elwood–in a neutral voice–says, “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses. ” Describes the situation perfectly but why does that line make me laugh? The absurdity of the situation? The deadpan delivery? The sunglasses? Probably all of them but, like so much humor, you had to be there.

If you’ve read my book Taking a Chance, you know I love the movie The In-laws. If you haven’t read Taking a Chance, I’m telling you now that I love this movie–the first one, the classic with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. One of the many sections that always make me laugh is when Falk, a CIA agent, describes a village in South America: “They have tsetse flies down there the size of eagles. Really. In the evening, I would stand in front of my hut and watch in horror as these giant flies would pick children off the ground and carry them away.” I know why that’s funny. It’s absurd and it also created a really absurd picture in my mind.

Also from that movie, George would turn to me every now and then and say, “Serpentine.” Always made me laugh.

What are some of your favorite lines, scenes, etc., from a movie, book or television show? Share the laughter.

Arachnophobia

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a spider.”

“They shot my belly out”

..They have tsetse flies down there the size of eagles. Really.

In the evening, I would stand in front of my hut and watch in horror as these giant flies would pick children off the ground and carry them away.

I love to laugh. Imagine you do, too. I’ve heard it’s good for one’s health. When I feel down, I watch one of the fifty-five episodes of the Big Bang Theory I have recorded. What else makes me laugh?

On television, I love the Headlines segment on the Tonight Show which shows funny headlines or newspaper stories. My favorite was from many years ago. Before he showed the newspaper clipping, Jay Leno said, “I think the word they were looking for was Geritol.” The newspaper story said that after the wedding reception for his daughter, the father of the bride reached for his genitals. I always wonder what the reaction of the father of the bride was when he read that, poor man. Hope it made him laugh after he got over the initial shock because I still enjoy it all these years later. Also on the tonight show, I enjoy most of the Photo Booth and Crime Blotter episodes.

Movies that make me laugh: The original The In-Laws with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. I can recite the funny line like “Serpentine” and “Mosquitoes the size of condors” and am hysterical when I remember the flames on the side of the up-tight dentist’s car. I love the movie American Dreamer about a romance writer with amnesia in Paris . No one else has ever heard of it. Almost anything John Cleese makes me laugh. John Oliver, too.

What else? Books by Kristen Higgins, Janet Evanovich, Jane Graves, and Candis Terry. Friends who support and care–well, they don’t always make me laugh but they make me feel good, My sister-in-law Diane who has the most wonderful and outlandish adventures. The sounds of a small child’s or children’s laughing fills me with delight. I can’t help but join them.

And the pets, of course. My cockatiel who sat on my shoulder and shared my scrambled eggs at breakfast; Mr. Scooter, the tuxedo cat who just hid on the table where he know he’s NOT supposed to be but the rattling of the pile of papers he’s on gives him away; Maggie when she looks around to make sure no one is watching before she plays with complete abandon with a catnip mouse; Ginger, the sociopathic cocker, who ate purses to get to the candy inside; Daffy, another cocker, who pranced and smiled when George did the dishes because she knew he’d give her scraps. What would we do without our pets who make us laugh?